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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GARDNER R. LILLIBRIDGE, OF \VAYNE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

RAILROAD-INDICATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 21,426, dated September 7, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GARDNER R. LILLI- BRIDGE, of Wayne county, State of Michigan, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Indicating the Several Stations and Distances on the Line of a Railway, Giving the Number of Miles Between Stations; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same.

The nature of my invention consists in enabling any party employed on a railway train brakeman for instance) to apply a key (which is kept in possession of the party) to my indicator and exhibit to the view of passengers, on leaving a station, the next station, together with the distance to the same, as also, its distance from either end of the railway.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operations, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a. part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a perspective View of the exterior of the indicator, Fig. 2 a perspective view of the cradle, confining the cylinders and friction rollers, and the dotted lines representing the scroll of muslin (or any other substance) upon which are painted, printed, or, otherwise equivalent thereto, the names of stations, distances, &c.

The case (Fig. 1) may be made of wood or metal, 30 inches long, 8 inches high, and 4 inches deep (these dimensions being more or less, to accommodate the structure of the car in which they may be required). In the front of said case is a strip of glass, 3 inches (more or less) in width, through which are seen the several stations and distances, as brought to View, as the scroll revolves. And attached to the case in front of the glass, is hinged, perpendicularly, or to slide in a groove made for the purpose, or their equivalents, a trap (A,) or obscurer, upon which the word Miles is painted, printed, or otherwise its equivalent thereto. Also, on the front of the case, and over or below the glass I likewise afiix the names of the two terminus stations of any railway that the same is used upon, as, for instance, From Detroit, From Chicago, (as designed for the Michigan Central Railroad,) and the words Next station over the names of stations on the scroll. In the right end of the case I make 2 round key holes, (B, 13,) which are opposite the cylinders, attached to which is either end of the scroll, containing the names of stations, &c.

Fig. 2, letters (C, C,) represents the cradle that confines the scroll-cylinders (D, D,) and the friction rollers (E, E,) being made of any hard wood of inch thickness (more or less) and to fit either end (interiorly) of the case before described, so that they can be lifted out, at any time, without injury to the case. In the right end of the scroll cylinders I cut a slot, into which a key (Fig. 3) made for the purpose of turning the scrollcylinders, placing the key in the upper keyhole of the case, opposite the upper cylinder, and turning up, in going up a railroad and the lower key-hole in the case, opposite the lower cylinder, and turning down (reversely) in coming down the railway; this operation to be performed by any employee of a railway, appointed for the purpose, while waiting at, or on leaving a station, exhibiting the next station &c. to View. The trap, in going up a road, is turned to the left, and obscures the down line of figures on the scroll, and in coming down the road, is turned to the right, and obscures the up line of figures on the scroll, (as, for instance, at Kalamazoo, nine miles is the distance to that station from Galesburg, in going up, and 6 miles is the distance to it, in coming down. the road from Ostimo. The trap to be confined to its position, alternately, by a spring, button, or their equivalents. I also introduce a screw of wood or metal (F) in the center of either end of the case, to press against the cradle, in order to regulate the tension of the scroll.

This Indicator and distance meter may be placed at either end of the car, in full view of all the passengers, and properly attended to, is a reliable agent in announcing the names of stations, distances, &c.

I do not claim the cylinders and scroll, or

the friction rollers, they being of ancient and friction rollers, in combination with the origin-but screw for regulating the tension of the scroll, l0

1. I do claim as my invention the trap, or forthe purposes specifically set forth.

obscurer, in combination with m eculiar method of exhibiting the numbei' d f miles GARDNER LILLIBRIDGE' between stations. Witnessed in presence of 2. I also claim a movable cradle, which EDWARD HAYNEs, contains and confines the cylinders, scroll GARRY SPENCER. 

